Thursday, December 3, 2015

Adamawa: Travails of An Anti-corruption Lawmaker

Maliki Salaudeen

To say that President Muhammadu Buhari came to power on the wings of
his anti-corruption credentials is simply stating the obvious. And that the All
Progressive Congress (APC) party swept majority of the governorship seats on
account of the change mantra of the party is equally not contestable. What is
however a subject of contention is whether some of the party’s governors are
still on the same page with the president in his avowed determination to clean
the nation’s Augean stable.

*Jibrila Mohammadu Bindow

Today, in AdamawaState, a cruel drama of
sorts is currently playing out, which if not urgently nipped in the bud, has
all the potentials of negating President Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade. What
makes the entire scenario alarmingly worrisome is the fact that the state is
being governed by an APC governor, Sen. Bindow Umar Jibrila.

Allegations are rife in the state that the governor is currently
pilfering the resources of the state with abominable perfidy under the guise of
executing sundry projects, a development Abdurrahman Abubakar Isa, a
member representing Mubi South constituency in the State House of Assembly, has
been vehemently kicking against, which in turn has drawn the ire of the
governor. For his insistence that things be done in a proper manner in line
with the twin principles of transparency and accountability, Abubakar Isa is
today being barbecued on a smoldering fire of victimization.

The genesis of the current face-off between the governor and Isa
stemmed from the former’s submission of a document dated 28th October, 2015 to
the State House of Assembly titled ‘’Re-Submission of Detail Areas of Virement
in the 2015 Revised Budget’’, which in reality was a request for new capital
projects and not projects already contained in the earlier Appropriation Law.
This did not go down well with Isa, who happened to be the Chairman of the
House Committee on Finance, Budget and Appropriation, as he rightly insisted
that ‘’the only way new projects can be captured in the budget after passage of
the Appropriation Law is by a supplementary appropriation bill duly
passed by the House’’.

*Gov Bindow and President Buhari

Isa’s opposition to this unconstitutional act of the
governor did not deter his colleagues from approving the request by voice vote,
a situation that made him to address a press conference, where he strongly
condemned the said approval. Apparently angered by his ‘’effrontery’’, Isa was
suspended effective from Monday Nov 16th 2015, followed by the dissolution of
the Committee on Appropriation of which he was the chairman. This action of the
House, which was obviously instigated by the governor, completely negates the
essence of rule of law because Isa’s only offence was that he decided to stand
on the side of truth in the face of brazen act of unconstitutionality by the
governor and his fawning acolytes in the House.

Being a law-abiding person, Isa decided to approach Adamawa State
High Court for intervention, which issued an interlocutory injunction
restraining the Speaker of the House, Kabiru Mijinyawa and the entire House
from suspending the crusading anti-corruption gadfly pending the determination
of the matter.

The so-called ‘’2015 Sectoral Virement on Capital Estimates’’,
submitted by the governor to the House is replete with several questionable
projects, which reeks of fraud. Some of these projects include: Dispensary Road
(1.00km)—N5m; Ngurore Rd (1.00km)---N10m; construction of Kano Rd
(1.75km)---N114.165m; construction of Jambutu road and drainages
(5.0km)---N150m; Hamanyarro road, Jimeta (0.20km)---N200m; construction of
Maiha-Fulbere-Zhediniyi-Pella Rd (39.58km)---N5.7bn; construction of Gombi
Ga’anda Rd (36.325km)---N4.5bn; Purchase of New Drilling Rig and Accessories
----N9.9m; etc.

Another questionable controversial item in the estimate is the
N500million purportedly earmarked for Micro Credit for Social Change in the
office of the SSG, whatever that means. In all these, it is so easy to conclude
that the governor did not mean well for the state. More galling is his angry
disposition towards Isa for calling for probity and enthronement of
accountability in the process of governance. The governor is allegedly so desperate
to silence Isa’s voice of reason amidst the cacophonous ‘’yes-sir’’ disposition
of other lawmakers that the lawmaker had to leave Yola on exile for fear of his
life.

From all intents and purposes, the people of AdamawaState
that voted for change are now beginning to bite their fingers in regret having
realized that their governor has parted ways with prudence in preference for
reckless squandermania of scarce resources.

It was also alleged that the governor shortchanged the state when
he expended N3.5billion on fertilizer (25,000 metric tonnes in all) meant for
100 dry season farmers. Instead of the usual 50kg, the state government
dubiously re-bagged it in 30kg bags, thereby ripping off the farmers.

Fresh facts have emerged on why the governor did not vote for
Buhari during the party’s presidential primary in Lagos, instead he voted for Rabiu Kwankwaso.
Rumours making the rounds aver that the governor is not comfortable with
Buhari’s anti-corruption disposition because of the former’s alleged predilection
for glitters and lucre. There are strong indications that the governor is
warming up to pair with Vice-President Yemi Osibanjo in the 2019 presidential
election should President Buhari decide not to run for re-election, as he
openly boosts of about it. How Gov. Bindow Jibrilla hopes to achieve this feat
remains in the realm of conjecture.

Judging from the foregoing, Abdurrahman Isa deserves a huge
commendation for not only expanding the frontiers of democracy, but also
President Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade. That he is being persecuted today
for opposing Gov. Bindow’s corruption-prone style of governance is indeed a sad
commentary on the change mantra that brought the governor to power.

Before the governor and his bootlicking sycophants finally succeed
in giving Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade a bloody nose and silence Isa, the
President must wade into the matter to expeditiously arrest the situation,
while the operatives of the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should
step in to do what is needful in the circumstance. It is too early in the day
for members of the same party to engage in rofo-rofo fight in the manner akin
to what is presently happening in AdamawaState. Isa deserves the
protection and support of all lovers of democracy as he continues to square up
to Gov. Bindow in the latter’s attempt to financially strip AdamawaState
naked.